Dakota Mercantile Gracious Living

I visited this store a few weeks ago and am looking forward to going back. I purchased some French soaps that smell amazing. The store is gorgeous inside. I applaud the owner for her creativity.
My favorite are all the Victorian bird houses and the chirping of the finches while perusing. The neighbors cat who visits and sleeps on the bed in the shop is a hoot.
If you find yourself in Micanopy you simple must walk into this gem of a store.

What a delightful store, absolutely heavenly. I am not sure if they sell anything in the garden in the back but it was a wonderful little oasis. There are big bird cages with real birds in the store so while shopping you have a serenade of bird songs. The items in the store are unique and I thought the prices were fair. Liked it very much.

Dakota Mercantile is a fully unique and overall extraordinary experience in the warren of antique shops one finds in Micanopy. For one, it’s not an antique shop but rather a store filled with a variety of beautiful, mostly-​imported, often-​European, delights for the home, table, bath and even some very nice pieces of silver jewelry. The interior design of the store – and its display windows – is simply stunning. Currently, the owner has her display windows done up for Halloween and they’re just amazing. Inside, she has things like a lot of unique little towels, table items, and other stuff that while beautiful doesn’t interest me personally, however, she also carries the hard-​to-​find Tokyomilk line of fragrances which are beyond seductive, long-​lasting, and about nearly-​perfect. Certainly different from the common brand-​name fragrances you’d get at Macy’s or Sephora. Everywhere you look in her store there is something eye-​catching, something you have not seen before, something that is too cute or too perfect or just different enough to grab your attention. You actually get distracted in her store: I was looking at jewelry in the back and kept gazing up at other items around the room.
I want to address the comments of another reviewer about how the owner isn’t friendly and has odd rules: For one, she was more than gracious with me. If you’ve looked at my user photos on here, you can see that I look more like a skater kid (which I am) than a typical soccer mom who might shop here. Yet she was fully gracious, very eager to speak with me and beyond helpful with all my questions. The owner’s rules – no food, drink, or photography in her store – also make sense. Most things in the shop are off-​white. .. you can imagine what spilled food could do. As to photography, I asked her about this rule and the owner doesn’t like seeing her design ideas appearing uncredited on Tumblr or blogs. Can you blame her? She’s doing first-​rate interior/​display design all over her store and people have apparently shared her ideas on their own blogs without giving her any credit. Would you do that to a photographer or painter or musician? No. And the craft of a designer also should be afforded the same courtesy.
Overall, this is probably my new favorite store in the Gainesville region. Since I’m not seeking an elaborate table-​service or linens, I am not sure how much I’ll actually buy here but the fragrances and jewelry alone could keep me busy for days.

Today, I visited the Dakota Mercantile for the second time. My Mom and I were in Micanopy celebrating her birthday having lunch and shopping. This store is beautifully decorated filled with wonderful treasures. I bought some handmade soaps that I love. We chatted with the owner who was very friendly and even took a picture of us while in her store. It is a shop you must visit :)

This is probably one of the most beautiful stores in Micanopy; unfortunately, the owner is less than gracious. Perhaps she’s been a victim of theft one too many times or burned by a former business partner. Sadly, she seems suspect of just about every customer who walks through her doors.
We are given strict rules before entering the store — no food, no drinks, no cameras. Cameras? Really? Okay…
I’ve been visiting the Dakota Mercantile since the early 2000s when I took my first trek down to Micanopy from Gainesville. Then the shop was in a small red hut but divinely decorated. I don’t know how many photographs I’ve taken of the outside of that building, of the blue bike with a basket filled with oranges as if the owner had just returned from the farmer’s market. But even then no food, no drinks, no cameras.
What I have realized over the years of shopping there is that the owner is decidedly paranoid about her store. There is a certain worry and tone of annoyance when I or a friend has asked her about a piece of décor she isn’t selling, something she uses as a display. Dare I say it, she’s huffy.
Recently, I was in the store with my friend who was admiring a decorated corkboard. The shop owner used dainty and pretty pearl and crystal topped push pins to display the wares on the corkboard. My friend asked her where she bought the push pins. The answer we received was a quick look away and, «I don’t know.» In the past I’ve asked about other items — a pink Christmas tree with pink lights, for instance — and I’ve received the same huffy response. «My sister had the Christmas tree especially made for me» as if there were no place in the entire world where I could find a pink Christmas tree with pink lights. Indeed I did find one. I’m sure she would not be pleased to know that the tree I found was at a Big Lots, the antithesis to her beautiful store.
In fact, this nervousness that my friend and I might steal her style has only enticed me to photograph her beautiful window displays every time I’m in Micanopy. It’s kind of like a fun little spy game. I find the best place to take my shot, sometimes I have my tripod, and then I take my picture. It’s the most fun during Christmas and Halloween.
Even though the owner of the shop is not the friendliest of people in Micanopy, the store is gorgeous, smells divine, and is beautiful to the eyes. I have yet been able to not purchase anything because of her haughty «I-​decorate-​better-​than-​you» attitude. I wish she could understand that we really do love her store. If anyone «steals» her style it should be considered the highest form of flattery. Those Queen and King embroidered pillow shams are not just for sale in her store. Go to
and find them, handmade no less.
I have a hard time believing that every time I’ve shopped at Dakota Mercantile it’s been a bad day for her. Smile at us. Talk to us. Even if we don’t buy anything that day we’ll be back. We’ve always been back. Get to know us. I’ve been shopping at your store for at least 7 years and you still have no idea who I am. Open up. Tell us about the neatest find you recently made and why you’re excited about it. It’ll get us excited about it too. Most likely it’ll gain you a purchase!
When I walk into Dakota Mercantile I fall in love. I want to feel just as welcomed by the shop clerk as I do the décor of her store. Give us a smile. We really do love your store.